Iranian Oil Minister Biyan Zanganeh said Monday that the country can increase oil production to 6.5 million barrels per day, coinciding with negotiations to suspend US sanctions.
“We can easily reach a daily production of 6.5 million barrels of oil. This number is not a surprising goal. But it is a reality that some people don’t want to accept. And they even fight against it, regularly,” Zanganeh said, quoted by Shana, an information agency dependent on the Oil Ministry.
For Zanganeh, “any government that comes to power should include as one of its first goals increasing oil production to 6.5 million barrels per day,” referring to the change of government due to take place in Iran in August.
“Besides generating jobs, it also moves Iran’s industries (…). Oil is not only economic power, but also increases the political power of the country,” the minister explained, adding that there is still a market for increased Iranian oil production, giving as an example Iraq, which increased its production to five million barrels per day.
“If there were no sanctions, we could produce much more,” the minister said.
OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, stood by its decision in late April to gradually increase oil supply by 2.1 million barrels per day between May and June
According to the latest monthly report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the combined production of its 13 partners increased in April to 25.08 million barrels per day, due to increased uptake in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.
Alone, Iran increased its market volume by 73,000 barrels of oil per day as its extractions increased to 3.92 million.
OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, stood by its decision in late April to gradually increase oil supplies by 2.1 million barrels per day between May and June.
Last week, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak estimated the global market deficit at 01 million barrels per day of oil and said that OPEC+ countries are looking at the possibility of increased production from Iranian oil.
“Iran has the potential to recover. We have always said that the sanctions against Iran are discriminatory,” the deputy prime minister stressed, referring to the restrictions on Iran’s oil sector by the United States.
Nuclear negotiations are currently taking place in Vienna between Iran and the member countries of the nuclear deal signed in 2015, in which the US is indirectly participating, after it unilaterally pulled out of the pact in 2018.
If these negotiations come to fruition and the US returns to the nuclear deal, sanctions against Iran, including those penalizing its oil exports, are expected to be removed.
